ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a breakdown of the tribes that invaded Britain, their origins and which English kingdoms arose from which tribes. The collective name English is clearly much more appropriate than the alternative one of Anglo Saxon. The original home of the English was in northern Germany and in Scandanavia. The villa economy and the urban markets, it is argued, offered vast possibilities of spoil. The Roman army had utilised German troops in a number of ways. The most noteworthy was in the role of auxiliary units. Archaeological evidence has shown that the Roman administration was using German irregular troops to guard towns and roads from the mid-fourth century onwards. There is evidence that the British succeeded in halting the English land seizure by a determined resistance.
